Elminster's Forgotten Realms

[TarionzCousin]

Next we have Elminster's Forgotten Realms in Quarter 4. We basically went to Ed and said hey, why don't you take all your campaign notes, all the information you've been putting together for your FR campaign and lets compile it into a book. Show us the realms as you've developed it in your campaign setting and lets get that to everybody. It's our celebration of the Forgotten Realms and pulling back the curtain to show you what the designer of the campaign setting has done.

I hope that this is exactly what it says it is; this seems closer to the original gray box than anything else they have ever put out for the Forgotten Realms.

Ed Greenwood's early articles for Dragon magazine, usually monster ecologies or magic item notes (IIRC), were fantastic. His world was alive with history, details, and interesting stuff.

I am really looking forward to this. Is anyone else excited about this?

 

[Jack99]

Yeah, sounds pretty amazing. I had recently decided to return to running campaigns in FR; but with this news, I will definitely put it off until I can run Ed's version of it.

 

[Terath Ninir]

The gray box never did much for me. I liked the old stuff from the magazines a lot better -- especially his original, cobbled together pantheon of gods. Much cooler than what came later.

But, yeah, baring me wanting it to be like the REALLY old stuff, not just the old stuff, that does sound potentially very cool.

 

[DMKastmaria]

I've never run the realms, but I'm always toying with the idea of running a campaign with the Greybox, FR1 and the City System. If the new Realms book is truly as advertised, I'll wait for it.

 

[howandwhy99]

I hope that this is exactly what it says it is; this seems closer to the original gray box than anything else they have ever put out for the Forgotten Realms.

Ed Greenwood's early articles for Dragon magazine, usually monster ecologies or magic item notes (IIRC), were fantastic. His world was alive with history, details, and interesting stuff.

It sounds better than the original grey box, if they really make it system-less. The grey box had Vaasa and other elements pushed into it to make room for H1-4. A lot of the rest grew because every campaign setting had to fit into FR. A setting that really is Greenwood's world as he made it and ran it would be a blessing.

I am really looking forward to this. Is anyone else excited about this?

I am. It would be nice to run FR as a light yet evocative setting. A game where I simply didn't need to read a million pages of text to learn the world first.

The gray box never did much for me. I liked the old stuff from the magazines a lot better -- especially his original, cobbled together pantheon of gods. Much cooler than what came later.

But, yeah, baring me wanting it to be like the REALLY old stuff, not just the old stuff, that does sound potentially very cool.

I wonder if they'll put in some of the older Dragon articles and his adventure material from the 80's? Taking it right from the source and having Greenwood reveal all his work would be a great nod to players who remember those times.

 

[ferratus]

If that's true, its about time.

Plus, I think it is probably the only way you could get the FR community back together. I think that Ed could take the "broken realms" and spin it back to being a realmsian place again and heal the rift in the community without something as crude and divisive as a reboot.

He has, after all, always seem to be able to roll with other people's ideas as well as his own.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I'm VERY excited by this book. I hope it's imminently useful and not just a mix of notes and miscellaneous material.

 

[Wormwood]

It's the book I've been waiting for since 1987.

PLEASE let the first page be One Comes, Unheralded, to Zirta

ps. dammit, 5e or no, my next campaign will be set in these Realms.

 

[Alzrius]

This sounds cool, but while I think Ed can put his home version of the Realms into an organized, readable format, I'm very uncertain as to what form the mechanics will take (presuming that it has mechanics at all).

My understanding is that Ed doesn't play 4E, and I'm not at all sure he ever used 3.X either. So if this book does have stats, someone else will be brought on board to convert things over (which will pollute the idea that this is Ed's own Realms), or this will be another "legacy" product (a la the 1E reprintings).

 

[Terath Ninir]

I wonder if they'll put in some of the older Dragon articles and his adventure material from the 80's? Taking it right from the source and having Greenwood reveal all his work would be a great nod to players who remember those times.

I'd love to see more of his stuff from back in the day. I liked it so much better before it was polished and professionally done. Good swords and sorcery should have rough edges.